


Going Back

by SRassier



Series: Five and Dolores sitting in a tree... [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Babies, Don't mess with Five's ladies!, Enough to risk his life, Family, Five loves Delores, Let Number Five | The Boy Say Fuck, Protective Number Five | The Boy, The Commission, Torture, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:28:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23737606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SRassier/pseuds/SRassier
Summary: Delores and Five anxiously await the arrival of their bundle of joy. The Commission is having none of that so they issue Five an ultimatum. Should he do what they ask in exchange for his family's safety? Also, the Hargreeves deal with the impending labor the only way they know how...they turn it into a mission.
Relationships: Dolores/Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy)
Series: Five and Dolores sitting in a tree... [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610194
Kudos: 25





	1. Preparing for Baby

**Author's Note:**

> This is a VERY direct sequel to "Moving Forward" in my "Five and Delores Sitting in a Tree" Universe. And by direct I mean DIRECT. It literally starts during the conversation Five and Delores are having at the end of "Moving Forward."
> 
> Rated M for violence and language.
> 
> Also please note: I have never had a child. I mostly googled all the stuff about timelines and child development so if I got something wrong, please be gentle.

~~~~~~Previously in “Five and Delores Sitting in a Tree” …~~~~~~

Delores was curled up by his side as he lazily drew mindless patterns up and down her back. She slowly looked up at him. “Any more surprises?”  
He laughed a bit and put his hands up defensively. “No. I am completely out.”  
“Good.” She looked deep into his eyes and tried to keep her voice even. “Because I have one, and I was just waiting my turn.”  
“Ok.”  
She took a deep breath and steadied herself. “I’m pregnant.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Five?” Delores cautiously reached up to put her hand on the side of her husband’s face. He was simply staring at her…blinking. He had not yet reacted to her announcement and she was starting to think that she may have broken him. “Babe, did you hear what I said?”  
Finally, there was movement. He slowly pushed himself up and turned to sit on the edge of the bed. She followed and they sat, side by side, and she waited. 

“I can’t.” His voice barely came out as a whisper. He didn’t look at her, just stared at the wall.  
Delores gave him a slight smile. “Well, you don’t have to, your job is done…I’ll take it from here.” She hoped that a joke would lighten the situation. It did not.  
He finally turned to look at her, and when he spoke, the fear in his voice betrayed his calm, collected face. “I can’t be a father.”  
“I hate to break it to you, but you don’t really have a choice.”

“What the hell do I know about being a parent?” Five’s eyes started darting around as his brain was going a mile a minute trying to process the last few moments. “How to physically push your kids to the absolute limit, until they are begging for a break or simply passed out? How to punish them for accidentally calling you “Dad” out in public? How to pit child against child from the age of 4 only to have them all resent each other by the time they reach adulthood? How about this one…how to treat one of your children so horribly that she becomes a soul so damaged that she would rather end the world than live in it?”

Delores sat in silence as he ranted. She knew why he was scared. She had the same fear when she found out about the baby. Two people who grew up with no love, only to be stranded with no one to teach them how to function in society turning them into emotionally stunted individuals, trying to raise a child was just about the most ridiculous thing she could think of. More ridiculous, she thought, was to not have this baby. 

“Five.” She took his hands in hers and he let her…it was a good sign. “There are no two people on this planet that are more prepared to have a child. Do you know why?” He shook his head. “Because from the day we were both born, our fathers showed us every possible example of ‘what not to do.’ We have a veritable textbook of ‘How to be a Parent.’ We simply have to read that textbook…and do the exact opposite of what it says.”

Five sighed deeply. “That’s not fair you know, using logic against me. It’s my favorite weapon.”  
Delores grinned. “No. Logic has always been my weapon.” She stood up and grabbed her robe, putting it on before throwing his at him. “Your favorite weapons are guns and pointy things.”  
He caught the robe and stood, pushing his arms through the sleeves. “Touché”  
“Now, let’s get room service, I’m starving.”

~~~~~~

The next few months were torture for Delores. She wanted so badly to shout their news from the rooftop, or at least tell the rest of the family. Five, after reading every baby book he could find at the library, explained that people typically wait until the end of the first trimester after the risk of miscarriage has gone down considerably before telling people. She knew he was right, but it still hurt every time Melissa asked her how she was doing, or Allison would ask when Claire would have a little cousin to spend time with when she would come for visits. 

These concerns were pushed into the back of her mind, however, when she looked at herself in the mirror one day and noticed that she was getting bigger around the middle. She went back into their bedroom and sifted through Five’s stack of baby books to find the one about timelines and flipped to the page about ‘showing.’ She frowned as she was definitely too early to be this big and was studying the page when Five came in. “Are you ok?”  
She looked up from the book and asked flatly. “Am I getting too big?”  
Five’s brain went into overload. This was the woman he loved. They had met when they were 13, spent every day together for the next 45 years and were now married, expecting a child and preparing to spend another lifetime with each other. A romance book love story, but it was all going to end right here… “Um…what?”

“Seriously.” She seemed to not notice his panic as she stood in profile, smoothing down her shirt to show him her belly. “I’m only 8 weeks but I look like the 12-week picture in this book.”   
Once Five realized he was not doomed, he took the book from her hands and looked at what was concerning her. “Hmm.” He rifled through the pages for a bit and looked up to her. “We aren’t exactly taking into account here that our mothers were pregnant with us for a matter of minutes before giving birth. For all we know, your gestation period may be accelerated.” She frowned and he put his arm around her. “We’ll explain everything to the doctor today and see what she says.”

~~~~~~

Delores sat nervously tapping her foot causing her leg to hop up and down as they waited for her name to be called. Five gently placed a hand on top of her knee and she glanced over to see him engrossed in an issue of Women’s Day magazine. She wondered which article he was reading, was it ‘How to use color to make your kitchen feel bigger’, ‘5 fun recipes you MUST try this summer’, or ‘7 ways to spruce up your she-shed?’ Just as she was about to ask him if he would like to build a she-shed in the court yard, a young woman came out of the back hallway and called out, “Delores Hargreeves?”

Five stood first, putting down his magazine and holding out his hand for her. She took it and the two of them followed the woman down the hall and into a procedure room. She took her blood pressure and temperature and told her to hop up on the table and that the doctor would be in momentarily. She did as she was told and reached out for Five’s hand. He scooted his chair closer so he could take it and they sat, waiting.

Once the doctor came in, Delores was grateful that Five took control of the first part of the conversation. She knew that people were aware of the odd births that occurred on October 1, 1989, but most didn’t know what happened to any of them that were not in the Umbrella Academy. Five laid it all out for the doctor, their births, their powers, and Delores’ concern about how early she was showing. The doctor took it all quite well in Delores’ opinion, simply nodding and interjecting questions here and there. Once Five was done, the doctor simply looked at Delores and smiled. “Alright, let’s have a look, shall we?” 

She instructed Delores to pull the top of her pants down a bit as she put gel on the wand. “Sorry, our gel warmer is out of commission, this is going to be a bit cold.” She placed the wand and Delores took in a sharp breath. “Sorry.”  
“It’s ok.” The cold gel actually helped ease her anxiety. It gave her something to focus on and Delores started to relax before the doctor’s cheery voice broke into her thoughts.   
“Well, I know why your baby bump is a bit ahead of schedule…” She grabbed the monitor and turned it so Five and Delores could see what she was seeing. The doctor moved her hand to the screen and pointed, first at one small blob, then another. “Twins.”

~~~~~~

For the first time since moving into the house, Five was actually glad that Luther and Allison had insisted on a weekly family dinner. It meant that they didn’t have to coral everyone to give them the news, the dinner would do the work for him. After the ultrasound, they decided that they would give them all the news because soon it would be difficult to mask it, so they might as well get it out now.

After most of the plates were near empty and the conversation had died down, Five cleared his throat “Can we have everyone’s attention?” He was greeted with 6 sets of eyes. “We have an announcement to make.” He turned to Delores. “Go ahead.”  
Delores smiled. “I’m pregnant!”

The reaction wasn’t exactly what Five had expected. He expected cheers, hugs, clapping, hell, even booing would at least be something. All they got was a bunch of less than shocked faces and a couple of ‘congratulations,’ before everyone went back to their desserts. “Did you not hear what she said? We’re going to have a baby…two actually! I expected some kind of response.”  
“Yeah.” Klaus sent a pitying look across the table at the newlyweds. “Sorry about the lack of surprise…we sort of knew already.”  
“How did you know?”  
Vanya sheepishly raised her hand as if in a classroom. “I heard the heart beats a couple of days ago. I told Allison.”  
Allison grimaced, “I told Klaus.”  
Klaus smiled a wicked grin. “I told literally everyone I know.”

Five was about to unload a tirade on them for ruining this moment when he heard a soft giggle from the seat beside him. He looked over to see Delores with her hands over her face, trying to stifle a full-on laugh. She was unsuccessful and finally let it burst from her mouth. “What is so funny?”  
She calmed down a bit and looked at her family almost lovingly. “With this bunch of weirdos, that could not have gone any better.”

~~~~~~

The baby shower was an event Five would have been happy to be totally absent from. Even after Delores insisted that it was the 21st century and there was no reason for fathers to not be involved in ALL aspects of having a baby…even the parties, he still contemplated disappearing for the day and dealing with the consequences later. In the end, he decided it was better to attend then to not be able to sleep in his own bed for the foreseeable future.

The gifts they received ranged from the practical to the absurd, to the absurd yet practical. Luther had made two mobiles for above the cribs, Allison and Klaus had loaded them up with enough clothes to get them through the first year at least, Diego and Melissa bought them twin bassinets and Vanya kept the weirdest, yet most practical gift for last.

“What is it?” Five turned the small plastic item in his hand as Delores looked in the box at the instructions wondering why in the hell did Vanya think their babies would need such a thing.  
Vanya explained. “It’s a child GPS tracker. People clip them to their kid’s backpacks or clothing, that way if their kid wanders off or worse…they have a way to find them.”  
Five smiled as he caught on to his sister’s train of thought immediately. The rest of them, just gave her confused looks before the mother-to-be said, “I don’t think our children are going to be that hard to track for a while.”  
“I was.” Five gave Delores an apologetic look. “If they get my powers…they could be disappearing during diaper changes.”   
Delores took in this information and turned to look at Vanya. “Oh my God…thank you!”  
“You are very welcome.”


	2. Operation Stork Drop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delores goes into labor and Five goes missing.

Delores was miserable. She was alone in the living room, trying to get comfortable on a couch that just last month she was praising for being the softest couch in history but now felt hard as a rock. She was hot and hungry and the little window AC unit Five had installed a few weeks ago was not doing the trick, endless glasses of ice water just made her have to heft herself off the rock of a couch to pee, and absolutely nothing in the refrigerator tasted quite right. All of this was the reason Five was not there with her right now.

At first, she felt guilty about sending him out to the store when they had plenty of food in the house. During her entire pregnancy, she actively avoided asking for favors as she didn’t want to guilt anyone into doing things simply because of her condition. Today, she threw that all out the window. She was hot, hungry, as big as a house, and sitting on the most uncomfortable couch in all of history, so when Five asked if he could get her anything, she sent him out for popsicles. 

She was finally settled into the rock and laid her head back against one of the pillows when she felt it. A small twinge in her lower back. “Shit,” she said out loud to the empty room. 10 minutes making this thing a decent place to relax and it was going to mess up her back. She tried to sit up and muttered a few more choice swear words as she rolled off the couch and onto the floor. She managed to catch herself before falling completely but landed on her hands and knees instead.

This is how Melissa found her, lodged between the couch and the coffee table, on all fours, swearing like a sailor. She looked up when she heard someone enter the room and was relieved to see a much skinnier version of herself looking down at her. Her sister was the least likely to laugh. 

Melissa just sort of smiled a pitying smile and walked over to her sister so she could help her up. Kneeling in front of the pregnant twin, she grasped one arm and started to hoist as Delores pulled one foot up under herself to stand up. “Ow!”  
Melissa stopped pulling. “What, did I hurt you?”  
“No.” Delores squeezed Melissa’s hand and started to move again, her sister following her lead and helping her to the couch. “OW!” Delores threw her hand to her stomach and held it low near her pelvis. “Oh shit.”  
“Oh my goodness…is it…are you?”  
“Yeah, I think so.” Delores kept her hand on her belly as Melissa grabbed her cell and typed into the group text; “CODE PINK!”

The Hargreeves family never did anything halfway. Their entire childhoods and most of their teen years were spent as superheroes. They learned fighting styles, hostage negotiation, tactical stealth, and mission planning. For the past few months, the Hargreeves men had insisted on putting together a plan for the big moment. Klaus, after they all found out that the incoming twins were both girls…insisted on calling it a “code pink.”

Everyone in the house had a job for the code pink. At first Delores thought it was a bit much to have a tactical plan for a birth, but they all seemed so excited to have a full-on family mission again, she couldn’t help but go along with it. She even let them hand out code names with as little complaining as she could manage.

Luther aka “Home Base” was to hold down the fort. He was the least comfortable with sitting in a waiting room for hours on end, so his job was to be at home and direct anyone who was not there where to go when they finally found out what was happening.

Diego aka “Wheels” was the driver. He was given a beeper and strict instructions to never be more than five minutes from the house because he was the one with the fastest car and the least amount of problem speeding in it.

Allison aka “The Middleman” was the talker. She would accompany Delores and Five to the hospital and fill out whatever paperwork they needed and talk to the staff when Five undoubtedly snapped and threatened anyone’s life over his wife being in pain.

Klaus aka “The Bag Man” was to grab Delores’ overnight bag and make sure it either went with her or ended up at the hospital if she went into labor elsewhere. He took great pride in the job, even if Delores was worried that he may change what she packed after he told her that her flannel nightgown was not very “fashion forward.”

Five aka “Papa Bear” was to be just that. He was to go to the hospital, hold Delores’ hand, whisper to her what a good job she was doing, and try not to kill any doctors or nurses.

Melissa aka “The Assistant” was to be by Delores’ side and get her anything that Five could not. She was the only other one allowed in the delivery room so that Papa Bear could do his job and she could be a roving hand to help with whatever else needed to be done.

Delores aka “Mama Bear” was (to quote Klaus) “simply in charge of giving this world some super cute babies…or ones that looked like Five.”

Vanya aka “The Babysitter” was to keep an eye on Five as close to 24/7 as she could. He was prone to wander when he started thinking about being a father and there were times when he ended up halfway across the city before anyone (including himself) noticed that he had left. Currently, Vanya was the only one doing her job.

She and Five were standing in the ice cream section of the grocery store, staring at the popsicles. “I forgot to ask her what flavor.”  
Vanya looked at her brother and tried to stifle a laugh. She had never seen him so freaked out. He was such a mess that a few weeks into “Operation Stork Drop,” he had even stopped complaining that she was following him everywhere.  
“Maybe get a variety pack. I don’t think it’s the flavor she wants, I think it’s the cold.” He nodded before opening the door and grabbing one of the boxes. 

They walked to the register and paid. As they approached the car, Vanya patted her pockets and huffed. “I think I left my wallet on the counter. I’ll be right back.” She jogged back into the store and Five unlocked the car door. Just as he was pulling the handle to open the door, everything went black.


	3. Giving Birth and Ultimatums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delores gives birth and The Commission has a little chat with Five

Vanya stepped out into the parking lot and walked back to Five’s car. She saw that he wasn’t there and immediately grabbed her phone. She pulled open the group text and saw there was a new message. Realizing she had her sound off she swore under her breath. Opening the group text, her mouth immediately went dry and her breaths started to come quicker and shallower. She was only vaguely aware of the wind picking up as she read the words “CODE PINK” on the screen. She would deal with the back-passenger side window of Five’s car cracking into a spider web later. For now, she simply steadied her fingers and typed back as a response, “CODE BLUE.”

Klaus was rushing down the stairs with the bag as Diego flung open the door, rushing over to Delores and putting himself on the other side as Melissa. “The car is running outside.”   
They helped her out and into the car as Klaus handed Melissa the bag. “Allison and I will be right behind you!” Melissa smiled and climbed into the back seat next to her sister and felt her phone vibrate as Diego stepped on the gas, starting them out to the hospital.

She grabbed her phone as Delores zipped open the bag and sighed seeing that her flannel nightgown was still inside. Melissa’s smile turned to a grimace as she read Vanya’s text. The look was not lost on Diego. “Babe? What’s wrong?”   
This was apparently the wrong thing to say out loud as it caused Delores to look at her sister and see the face she was making. “Melissa…what is it?”

Melissa was a lot of things, but a liar was not one of them, especially when it came to Delores. For one thing, she was her sister and she loved her. They had spent a lifetime apart and it hurt so much that Melissa swore there would never be secrets between them for fear that it would separate them again. Also, Delores could easily read her mind so lying was a waste of time. She cleared her throat and croaked out, “Um…code blue.”

~~~

Five opened his eyes only to snap them shut as a bright white light shining on his face caused his temples to throb and his head to start spinning. He squeezed them shut as tight as they would go and allowed himself a moment to get oriented to his situation. He was in the parking lot. Something hit him on the head, he blacked out. He was now sitting in a chair, tied to it if the itchy sensation on his wrists was any indication and someone didn’t want him to see their face. 

He didn’t try jumping at first. In order to manipulate space, you needed to be able to see where the hell you were in relation to things you’d rather not jump into. Finally, he forced his eyes open and turned his head from the blinding white light, taking in as much of the room as he could see. 

It was a shabby hotel room, with a very familiar looking briefcase sitting on the floor near the tv stand. He blinked a few times to adjust, that couldn’t be. The Commission was gone, he destroyed the briefcases…what the hell was going on?

“I bet you’re a bit confused right now,” a voice calmly addressed him from behind the light. “You’re a smart kid.” Five bristled at the word ‘kid.’ If this man was truly from the commission, he knew how old Five really was despite his appearance and he was just trying to piss him off. It was working. “You must have figured out who I work for. You just can’t figure out the ‘how.’”

Five hadn’t been involved in a good interrogation in some time so he stayed tied to the chair and decided to see where this would go. “I’m assuming that the commission I thought I destroyed was only a ‘small cog.’” He rolled his eyes at repeating the line oft used by his former boss.  
“Correct.” Five’s eyes watered as the light still shone into them, but he was starting to adjust and could see the silhouettes of three individuals. He mentally clocked where they were in relation to him and waited as the man continued. “Don’t bother with whatever you’re planning. You won’t be able to jump.”

Five immediately balled his fists as he tried to open a portal to shove himself into to get out of the chair. Nothing happened, not even the tiniest amount of energy could be felt as he attempted. In his mind he started to panic. His face stayed stoic as he addressed the man. “Drugs?”  
“A special concoction made just for you. Don’t worry, it’s only temporary. After our talk you can be on your merry way and go see your babies come into this world.”  
Five’s shoulders tensed at the mention of his family. “You stay the hell away from them.”  
“We will. Jesus Five, I’m not a monster. I’m not going to order a kill on a couple of newborns.” The lamp suddenly flicked off and Five’s eyes were filled with burst of dots left in the place of the blinding light. He blinked a few times to try to clear his field of vision and he slowly felt the man lean in close to quietly speak into his ear, “I can, however, send someone back about 9 months ago. I WILL order a kill on a pregnant woman.”

Five knew he couldn’t jump. He knew he was tied up and couldn’t fight. He knew whatever he did now would garner him a harsh punishment, but he didn’t care. This man threatened Delores and that was something that he could not allow. Steeling himself for something he truly didn’t approve of, he turned and lunged at the man, biting him square on the nose.

~~~

Delores was unceremoniously plopped down in a wheelchair and was being whisked down the hall by a nurse, Melissa was hot on their heels, trying to assure Delores that they would find Five and he would be here shortly. Melissa had no idea if this was the truth or not, so it wasn’t exactly lying.

The reached a room and another nurse met them and helped get Delores into a gown and on the bed. Melissa stepped up and took her hand, using her other hand to gently brush some hair out of her sister’s eyes and she could see the panic rise. “What if he doesn’t make it? What if he’s hurt? Melissa, we need to find him…I’m going to go find him.”  
“NO!!! Melissa squeezed her hand and looked at her as sternly as she could. “You are not leaving this body do you understand me? You are to stay here and focus on completing your part of the mission!” Melissa really couldn’t believe she just said that, but it seemed to work. Delores’s breath started to slow a bit and she got some sense back in her face.   
“You need to find him.”  
“We will.”

~~~

Five leaned over and spit a mouth full of blood on the floor. He looked at the man who’s fist just collided with his mouth in retaliation for biting his boss and smiled, “worth it.”  
The boss had pulled out a handkerchief and was holding it on his nose as Five had a good laugh at the sight of him. “Now that you got that out of your system, do you want to know why the hell you’re here?”  
“Sure, I’ll bite.” He chuckled at his stupid pun and could have sworn he heard one of the others in the room stifle a laugh as well. “Why am I here?”

“You’re here because you owe the commission 18 months of service. You broke your contract and we are here to collect.”  
“You have got to be shitting me.”  
“No.” The boss pulled the cloth away as the bleeding subsided on his rapidly swelling nose. “The commission can’t have people get away with stopping an apocalypse AND breaking their contract, it would make the others think that they too can get away with such nonsense.”   
“So what, you want me to spend the next year and a half killing people for you?…pass.”

The boss never broke eye contact. Five respected that. Too often people backed down when confronted with any kind of opposition, and to be a leader you had to learn how to keep your cool even when some snot nosed 19 year old bites your nose and spits on the floor in front of you. “No, number Five. You messed up…royally. The Commission has decided that in order to pay off your debt your original contract will be reset. You are to work for five years and then all benefits and travel will be the same as the original arrangement.”  
“And if I say fuck you?”  
“Well then you better start working on perfecting your time travel and get ready to watch your wife die over and over no matter how many times you go back to save her.”

Five swallowed hard. He knew he was beat. For now. He was never one to give up but sometimes you must accept that you may have to lose a few battles to ultimately win the war. “And I can come back to any time, to the minute?”  
“Sure. We can deposit you right back here, right now. Your family will never know you even left. Except of course your age…that might tip them off, but by then you’ll have either a wonderful story for them or you could just tell them the truth. I really don’t care.”

Five was calculating all of the possible outcomes of saying no as the sound of a klaxon filled the room. One of the men picked up Five’s phone from the dresser and passed it to the Boss. He looked at the phone and back up at Five. “You better make a decision. I don’t know what a “code pink” is but it sounds very important.”

Five quickly made up his mind but suddenly thought back to his wedding day. He remembered a comment that Delores had made. At the time it seemed unimportant, given that their lives had settled down and imminent danger was no longer a day to day occurrence. Now, the comment seemed to be screaming in the back of his mind, daring him to disobey it. 

‘Five, promise me that we will always be partners. I want to be there for you, even when making hard decisions. We should always make them together.’

He had promised. He knew he could leave with this man and, IF he could be trusted, after five years be dropped off directly at the hospital in this very moment. He also knew that he would suffer for years if Delores found out he made this kind of monumental decision without him. He also knew that the job that he was being asked to do was dangerous, and there was a possibility of him not ever coming back, even if the commission held up their end of the arrangement.

“One condition.”  
The Boss stood up straight from his position of leaning against the wall. “Shoot.”  
“I need to go to the hospital. Code pink means that she’s in labor. I want to see my babies born before I go.”  
The Boss pondered the request and decided that without his powers he just might be easy enough to control. “Fine, but then you come with me. Deal?”  
Five sighed dejectedly, “Deal.”

~~~ 

Melissa told herself that she was going to donate to every possible organization she could find that would benefit healthcare workers after today. The verbal abuse they were taking from a woman who insisted that they stop a fully underway labor so that she could wait for the father was nothing if not colorful. Melissa even thought Delores made up a few swear words of her own.

Just as Delores was trying to sit up and demanded that Melissa grab her shoes because they were leaving, the door burst open and in ran Five, rushing to Delores’ side and grabbing the hand not being held by Melissa.   
“Where the hell were you?” Delores bellowed. “And what happened to your face?”  
“I, uh…it’s a long story.”  
The doctor poked her head up from behind a sheet that was draped over Delores’ legs. “Well, it will have to be a story for another time because there is a little someone who wants out down here.”

Delores suddenly got very quiet and looked up at Five, concern in her face and she spoke with a voice to match. “Five?”  
“Everything’s going to be OK, you got this.” Melissa smiled and thought to herself, ‘way to go, Papa Bear!’

~~~

Five and Delores sat quietly in the room, finally emptied of all their siblings. Each of them held a tiny little girl in their arms and Five was patiently waiting for the explosion of anger and a rant about all the reasons why he was an idiot. He didn’t get this rant. Instead, he got a pair of sad, tired eyes looking at him and down to the baby in her arms. “Do you trust him to keep up his end of the bargain?”  
“No.” She looked back up at that and Five held her gaze. “But I do trust him to do what he promised if I don’t go.”

There was a sudden flash of blue and the couple looked up to find the Boss standing in the hospital room with his briefcase. “Ready?”  
Five looked at Delores and could see the tears welling up but she refused to let them go. She turned to the Boss and simply said, “Five minutes?”  
“And he will be back here, standing right where I stand now…you’ll barely notice he’s gone.”

Five looked at Delores and saw a few of the tears finally start to fall. He slowly got up and moved the child from his arms to the bassinet, placing a kiss on her forehead before lying her down and walked over to his wife and other child. Leaning in, he cupped Delores’ face in his hands and whispered, “I will always come back to you.” He pressed his lips against hers and then placed one on the forehead of the child in her arms before stepping back. He walked over to the Boss and took his outstretched hand. In a familiar flash of blue, both men were gone, and Delores let the rest of her tears fall.


	4. Living Without

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five comes back.

Delores woke with a start as the baby monitor crackled alive and broke into her sleep. She got out of bed and stepped into her slippers. Her movements automatic at this point, she didn’t let herself fully wake up while she shuffled to the bedroom next door and picked up the crying baby. Not wanting her to wake her sister, she brought the baby with as she shuffled to the kitchen to make a bottle.

Diego wished he had a camera. The sight of Delores, passed out at the kitchen table, the side of her face pressed into the hard wood, drool coming out of her mouth and one hand holding a bottle to the kid happily cooing in the car seat she had placed on said table…that was one for the memory books. He walked over and took the bottle from her hand and tilted it up so the little one could finish her midnight snack. It was times like this he wishes Five were here…so he could kick his ass. 

Melissa and he had walked into the hospital room to find a crying Delores and no Five. The way Five had looked at those kids Diego knew that he would never leave them alone this close to their arrival in this world unless something bad happened. Melissa was already at Delores’ side when he asked, “What happened?”  
Delores sniffled and wiped her eyes. “He’s gone, but he’ll be back. He’ll be back in five minutes.”  
Diego locked eyes with Melissa to see that she was now tearing up too. Damn it, now he would have to kill Five twice…once for upsetting Delores, and once for Melissa.

Delores asked him to go get everyone and once in the room, they got Luther on speaker so she would only have to say it once. She told them all of the commission and Five’s renewed contract and the threat that was anchored at her if he refused. She then finished by saying that he promised he’d be back five minutes after he left. Diego asked what was on everyone’s mind. “How long has it been?”  
Delores’ lower lip started to quiver as she spoke in a near whisper, “20 minutes.”

So, five minutes passed…nothing. Five days passed…nothing. Now it was 5 months later and here sat Diego, feeding one of the babies that Five should be here to help his wife take care of. No one in the house wanted to say it out loud but they were all laboring under the knowledge that if Five didn’t make it back when he said he would then something went wrong. Diego refused to utter the next logical step out loud to anyone but Melissa in the privacy of their own room, but if something went wrong and Five didn’t cause it…then he was most likely dead.

~~~

Family dinners were still happening. Once a week, the Hargreeves gathered around the massive dining room table and enjoyed whatever meal the designated person made that week. Some meals were grand, some were simple, but all were appreciated. This go around it was Vanya’s turn to decide the menu and she had treated them all to a buffet style pizza bar where everyone chose from a multitude of ingredients and put them on English muffins to be then thrown into the microwave and enjoyed.

Delores avoided the dinners for quite some time after having the twins. She wasn’t ready to have a conversation about where Five went and if/when he was coming back. Finally, a few weeks ago she bit the bullet and brought the girls down to the dining room and had been coming to them ever since. She had nothing to worry about in regards to awkward conversation, as most of the time was spend arguing about something as asinine as whether or not they needed uniforms if they were all going to try going on missions together again or just telling jokes and enjoying each other’s company. 

As Delores started in on her fourth English muffin pizza (they really were quite good), the conversation was violently cut short by an explosion of energy and a body falling seemingly from out of nowhere and landing right on the table. The Hargreeves all stood up and went into various defense positions. Delores rushed back to the twins and put herself between them and the man on the table. 

The man groaned as he propped himself up from the briefcase that ‘softened’ his fall and unceremoniously rolled off the table and stood up, brushing at the tattered prison uniform he had on which looked like he had been wearing it for months without a change.

He lifted his head and made eye contact with Delores. She gasped, “Five?” He disappeared from his spot next to the table and reappeared next to her in a flash. He took her into his arms and when their lips finally met, Delores melted into his chest, trying to give him 5 months worth of love in one kiss. 

Delores suddenly pulled back and gave him a half-hearted shove which caused him to step back and stare at her in confusion. “What?”  
“You ass hole!” She started jabbing a finger into his chest, each jab causing him to take a step backward and she followed. “You said five minutes! Five minutes! You promised me! It’s been 5 months!” He opened his mouth to speak but she interrupted. “You’d think that someone so obsessed with time would be able to TELL IT!”

“Delores!”   
Suddenly she realized that someone was trying to get her attention. It was Luther and she wasn’t sure how many times he said her name, but this wasn’t the first. “What?”  
“Look at him.”  
She took a step back and finally took in his features. His hair was a mess and parts of it had bits of grey. His face was covered in an unkempt beard and nearly every part of him that wasn’t covered by hair or clothes looked to have bruises or scars on it. She also noticed that he looked to be in his early thirties. Her mouth simply fell open as he finally spoke. “It’s been a lot longer than 5 months.”

She slowly reached up a hand to his cheek, but something caught his eye and he stepped to the side to go around her. The whole family watched in silence as Five tentatively approached the twins, babbling to each other, oblivious to what was happening in the room. He froze in place, almost afraid to reach out to them. He stayed that way until Delores finally walked up next to him. He was almost in a trance as he spoke. “I don’t even know their names.”  
“Lily and Rose.”

He smiled. He remembered that back in the apocalypse he and Delores would sometimes talk for hours about what they missed. One day the topic of flowers popped up. Five admitted that he never cared for or understood the need for flowers but after they were all gone, he really missed them. They each chose a favorite flower, his the rose, her the lily and swore to each other that when they got back they would keep a steady supply of the two flowers in their lives to remind them why they fought so hard to get back.

“Five?” Five and Delores turned their attention back to the group, still standing around the table. It was Luther who spoke, “What the hell happened to you?”  
“It’s a long story.” His voice was now more even, and the confidence was once again starting to come out. “I’m gonna need some coffee.”

They all gathered in the living room and took seats on various couches and chairs. Five and Delores sat on the love seat, each of them holding one of their children. Five took a sip of his coffee and placed it on the side table before finally telling his story.


	5. What the Hell Happened?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of what happened to Five when he left with The Boss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit long but I wanted Five's story about where he's been to all be one chapter.

He forgot how much rougher the briefcase travel felt. As he and the Boss landed in what looked to be the parking lot of an apartment building, he stumbled a bit. As he got his footing the Boss chuckled, “It’s been a while, huh?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Well, here we are,” he gestured to the building. “Your new home for the next five years.”

He followed the man into the building and was shown to a door marked with the number 5. “A bit on the nose, don’t you think.” He caught the boss’ eye and smirked, the other man’s nose still red with visible bite marks. “Oh sorry.”  
The Boss ignored the comment and instead pulled a key from his pocket and handed it to Five. “Relax for tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll get you all set up with your gear and your partner and you can get to work.”  
“Wait…partner? I don’t need a partner.”  
“You think that after all the damage you’ve done to the timeline, that we are going to just let you go cavorting throughout history without a babysitter?” The Boss didn’t wait for a response, he simply walked away, leaving Five to his new ‘home.’

He turned the key and pushed the door open. Taking in the room he saw that it was a simple yet modern one room apartment. A Murphy style bed that could fold up into the wall to make room, a small kitchenette and a door that lead, he presumed, to a bathroom. Along the wall next to the window was a writing desk and a chair. Propped on that chair was a large lump, wrapped in colorful paper that read ‘welcome’ all over it.

He stepped up to the package and took the note that was taped to it. It read, 

‘Welcome back, Five! We know that it was a tough decision to leave your family, but we hope that this will help calm your nerves and make you feel right at home.’ 

He tore open the paper and stared wide eyed into the face of the mannequin that Delores had occupied for over 40 years, complete with missing arm and tattered polka dot shirt. “Huh.”

The next morning, after finding the kitchen well stocked, he made breakfast and got ready for the day. He nodded a quick goodbye to ‘Faux-loris’ as he decided to call her and followed a few others from the apartments up to the main building on what looked to be a massive campus. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was the actual headquarters that he had always heard about but never saw. That didn’t matter to him because he had made a promise and if he had to keep his head down and do what he was told for the next five year, he would do it to get back to his family.

The first day was mundane to say the least. He was fitted for some new clothes, given an account to keep his wages in, and had to sit through a few mindless classes on how the ‘new and improved commission’ was now being run. The lecturers insisted that the new commission was more streamlined and practical. Gone were the old ways of pneumatic tubes and typewriters, they had embraced technology and blah blah blah…Five knew that no matter how you dress it up, it was still the same. Someone messes with the timeline…they get dead. He didn’t need a class to teach him that.

Day two was when things got a bit interesting. He was told to meet his new partner outside the tech room at 8 am, and they would be given their first assignment. “Damn,” he thought, “Jump right back in I guess.”

He threw on one of his new suits and headed down to the tech room early. He wanted to get there first to see what he was dealing with. A woman at a reception desk told him to wait for his partner and they would be issued equipment. He took a seat on a bench and waited. Finally, at 8 o’clock on the dot, a man turned the corner and greeted him with more cheer than Five wanted to hear in a lifetime. “Morning!” The man was older than Five’s 19-year-old appearance, but a few inches shorter. He carried himself like someone who was pretending to know what was going on but had no clue.

“The name’s Harp.” He held his hand out and Five begrudgingly shook it.  
“Five.”  
“No shit?!”  
“No shit.” He looked at the receptionist. “Can we go in now?”  
She nodded and as they walked in the room, Harp kept up his incessant talking and Five only hoped that maybe he would get a new babysitter every time. “I’ve heard of you man, you are a legend!” He scrunched up his face. “But…I thought you were like 60? What’s your secret?”  
“Time travel.” Five tried desperately to ignore Harp as he looked around at the expansive room.

It was full of the things he remembered, briefcases, guns, a teller desk to get money for different time periods, but there was so much more. They now had technology to match eras. Cell phones that came in every shape and size, beepers, transistor radios, the shelves were packed with anything and everything to help someone disappear in a crowd during any time.

They were approached by someone who called himself “Q” with a chuckle and Five didn’t get the joke. He started issuing them various items, one of them being a cell phone so Five figured they weren’t going too far back. ‘Q’ informed him that they would be getting their instructions from there as soon as they arrived instead of the old ways of the tube. Harp started to reach for the cell phone but Five shoved it in his suit pocket and followed Q to the briefcase wall. 

As Five stepped into the dingy motel room and tossed the briefcase on one of the beds he took a breath and reminded himself that this was for Delores and the girls. He would keep his head down, kill who he needed to kill and get this shit over with. The cell phone beeped and as he took it out of his pocket, he was reminded that he was not here alone. “So, who’s the target?” Harp asked. If he was trying to not sound anxious, he was failing.   
Five read the text and muttered to himself, “Andrew Gerwing.”  
“Well let’s go get Andrew Gerwing!”

Five sighed and turned to Harp. “WE are not going to do anything. I am going to go take care of Andrew Gerwing.” Harp opened his mouth but Five continued. “Don’t. I do not need you. The only reason you are here is that the last time I ‘worked’ for the commission I killed a lot of people and blew the place up.” Harp’s mouth shut with a snap. “You are here to babysit me. I will do the job myself. While I am doing that, you can watch TV, take a nap, get a hooker, I don’t really give a shit. You stay out of my way and we will both live to see the ends of our miserable contracts for this dumpster fire of a company.”

Harp sat back on the bed as if the force of Five’s words physically pushed him down. “Fine. But I’m keeping the briefcase with me.”  
“Great.”   
Five then walked out the door, slamming it behind him and Harp turned on the TV. “Freaking legend man!”

Five figured that he would either get a new partner or he would get used to this one. Neither of those things happened. Months went by and at the end of each mission he would send a request up the chain for a new partner and every time he would be denied. Every mission Harp seemed to think that they were becoming closer and closer and his talking increased. He would tell asinine stories about his life before the commission and how amazed he was that a mild-mannered science teacher would somehow end up working for a time travel company and then he would be partnered with a living legend.

Five was laying on one of the two queen beds in a hotel room sometime in the 60’s. His arm was draped across his eyes and he was making a mental list of all the ways he could kill Harp and which ones would take him the longest to die. Harp was sitting on the other bed, propped up on some pillows droning on and on about how their ‘one-year anniversary’ as partners was coming up and they should do something to celebrate.  
“I could smother you in your sleep.”  
“What was that?”  
“Nothing.”

“Hey. Can I ask you something?”   
Five sighed. “Fine.”  
“What’s with the mannequin?” Five removed his arm from his face and glared at Harp. “I’ve seen it a couple of times when you are leaving your apartment in the morning. It’s just an interesting thing to have and I was wondering…” he trailed off when he saw that Five’s face was still staring at him.  
“She’s none of your business.”  
“She?”  
“What part of ‘none of your business’ do you not understand?”  
“Sorry.” Five laid back down and Harp wrung his hands before continuing. “Its just that…you know everything about me, and I know nothing about you…just stories and legends.”  
Five rolled his eyes. “The reason I know everything about you is that you never stop fucking talking!”

Harp clamped his mouth shut but didn’t look away. He had spent a year with Five and knew that for some strange reason this man who was an absolute legend for stopping the freaking apocalypse was towing the company line so intently. He knew he wouldn’t kill his partner, no matter how many times he threatened. “I never stop talking because it’s all you’ll let me do.” Five looked at his partner. “I’m OK with that! I’m just saying, put yourself in my shoes. Imaging traveling all around the world and all through time only to sit in a hotel room and watch TV while your partner gets to do all sorts of cool stuff. You get bored really quick so when you get back…I talk.”

Five took in all that Harp said and came to a realization. Harp had never complained. He simply took Five’s demand that he sit and let him do all the work and he was OK with that. He babysat him so the commission would know that he was being a good boy and in turn he was going to get to go back to his family in 4 years. 

“Shit.” He squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose before opening them and sitting up to face Harp. “She was my only companion during the apocalypse.” Harp was blissfully silent as Five went on. “I was 13 when I had to learn to survive on my own and when I found the mannequin…it just seemed like a good idea to have something to bounce ideas off. As you can imagine, being alone for 40 years does something to your mind so after a while…she was more than just a hunk of plastic. She was my friend.” Five chose his words carefully. He didn’t really need Harp to know about Delores for fear that he would take talking about his family as some kind of ‘proof of friendship’ and Five still sort of wanted to kill him.

“So the commission what…made a copy to keep in your room? What the hell?”  
“Yeah. To make me more comfortable I guess.”  
“Is it working?”  
Five thought about Faux-loris and really pondered the question. “You know what? I think it is. Weird.”  
“Yeah. I had a stuffed dog when I was a kid. Most people said that I kept it a lot longer than I should have…” Five zoned out as their little bonding moment was over and Harp went back to yammering on about stuff Five didn’t give two shits about and Five went back to his list of ways to slowly drain the life out of the other man.

~~~

Five woke up happier than he has been in a long time. It was day 1826. No more commission, no more Harp, no more killing (unless Harp tries to throw him a going away party). He had done his time, and it was finally the day he got to go home and live his life. 

He walked up to the main building and down the corridor past the tech room and the case management room straight to the Boss’ office. He rapped on it three times and waited. When he heard the command to enter, he pushed open the door and walked in. He was greeted by the Boss sitting behind his giant mahogany desk. “Five!” The man looked up to see a grinning Five and smiled himself. “I figured you’d look happy today.” He put down his pen and stood to walk around to the side of the desk Five was standing on. “Five years. You did it.”  
“And I’m ready to go home.”  
“I was thinking of having Harp take you.” Five’s eyes widened and the Boss laughed. “I’m kidding! I wouldn’t subject you to that, not after you spent five years with it.”  
“When can we leave?”  
“I’m free right now. Let’s head down and grab a briefcase.”

Five felt like a kid again. As they walked down the corridor toward the tech room, he felt as if he was 10 years old, waiting for the moment Grace would bring a cake to the table to celebrate all their birthdays. It was one of the only times they got sweets, so it was a grand treat that they all looked forward to for weeks. Five felt that same anticipation as they turned the corner only to be met with a sudden pain in the base of his neck.

His first instinct was to jump. He tried to focus on his small apartment but felt himself getting weaker from whatever was injected into him so he decided that anywhere outside of this building would have to do and he could try to make a run for it. He clenched his fists and felt the energy build up before dying in a fizzle when he collapsed to the ground and passed out.

~~~

He woke up in a large cell. It was bare except for a small cot, a toilet, and him. He tried to jump…nothing. “Shit.” He looked around and saw that the cell had no visible door. It appeared that he had just magically transported into a metal box with no doors and no windows. “Don’t panic.” He started mapping the room. It was a 9x9 cell that seemed to be sealed up tight. He was still breathing so there had to be some kind of ventilation system, telling him that there was a way in and out, even if just for air. The cot was a fold-able one like the military uses and the toilet was silver and looked straight out of a prison movie.

Just as he was about to start dragging the cot around to stand on and check the ceiling for weak spots, the wall in front of him started to creak. A door that was until now, not visible opened and two men walked into the cell, closing the door behind them. One was the Boss and the other was someone in a lab coat carrying a tray of food. “Morning.” The Boss spoke cheerfully before stepping up to Five and punching him square in the jaw. Five’s mouth burned as his head was thrown to the side from the force of it. He felt stupid that he didn’t see that coming and decided that it wouldn’t happen again…not without consequences.

“What the hell is going on?” Five spoke through blood cover lips. “I did my time; you were supposed to take me back.”  
“Yeah. About that. You pissed a lot of people off with your bullshit last time you worked here so…”   
“You had no intentions of sending me back home.”  
“Bingo.” He turned to the lab coat. “See, I knew he was a smart guy.”  
“Who’s this asshole?”  
“He is a doctor and you should be nice to him. He is the one that’s going to keep you alive during all this.”  
“All this what?”  
“The past 5 years was because you owed us. The rest of your time here will be just for fun.”

The doctor placed the tray of food down and the two men left the cell, the door ringing out with a metallic clang as it shut and locked behind them. Five looked at the food and decided that if they wanted to kill him, he’d be dead. It probably wasn’t poisoned, and he needed to keep his strength up if he was going to ever get out of there and get back to his family.

The next few weeks were a cake walk compared to some other aspects of Five’s life. Each day, the doctor would bring him food and give him a check up to make sure that the beating from the day before hadn’t damaged anything permanently. He would then leave and a few hours later some goon would come in and rough him up. Sometimes it was an agent who knew him and had a beef, sometimes it was someone new who wanted to try their hand at fighting the ‘legendary Number Five.’ Each time, he ended up on the floor bleeding. 

It’s got to be the food, he told himself one day. It’s the only constant in his life and the only way they could get something in his system. Whatever it was it didn’t seem to harm him much, it just slowed his reflexes and kept him from using his power…both making him pretty easy to beat in a fight.

After months of that, the real torture started. Five figured they got bored with beating him senseless only to have him lay on the floor laughing and yelling toward the giant metal door, “Is that all you got?” Never show weakness. It was a phrase that kept repeating in his head. The fact that he heard it in Reginald Hargreeves’ voice made no matter to him. Even a broken clock was right twice a day. Old Reggie was right, if you show weakness, then they win. They may have been beating Five, but he wasn’t beat.

From then on it was pretty traditional torture methods from throughout the ages; waterboarding, electrocution, one guy even tried some medieval shit and ripped off one of Five’s fingernails with a pliers. He puked and ran from the room leaving Five to wonder where the hell they were getting all these idiots. They would alternate this with simpler beatings. Some days, when his eye would swell shut or something would break, he’d even get time off. The Boss told him it was because they wanted him nice and healthy before they eventually killed him.

It was during one of these breaks as the doctor was changing the bandage on a particularly nasty gash on the side of his leg that Five noticed something. The doctor had entered the cell and placed his bag on the cot and sat next to Five. Some big guy, undoubtedly chosen for his intimidating size was standing guard at the door. It was the same thing that had been happening for years but today was different. Today they didn’t close the door. The corner of Five’s mouth went up ever so slightly as he thought, “they’re getting complacent.”

He knew it was a matter of time before they started making mistakes. Him being drugged and weak had led them into a false sense of security and now they were forgetting little things. First was the door, then he noticed that one guy was wearing a knife in a sheath around his leg. He was there for a more traditional beating, so he didn’t bring the knife for Five…he forgot to take it off.

He simply had to wait for the right opportunity. He had no idea what was on the other side of that door so a tiny little knife wouldn’t do. He needed a gun. It was day 4016 after leaving Delores and his girls and Five finally got what he asked for. The door opened for his daily torture and two men walked in. The first was a tall, hulk of a man. He reminded Five of Luther and he put on brass knuckles as he entered the room. Five snorted a laugh and looked up from his cot. “You’re really trying to intimidate a guy who has spent the last 6 years getting beat within an inch of his life, electrocuted, waterboarded, suffocated and a myriad of other horrific things with what?...brass knuckles? Go home to your mommy until you learn how to be a real heavy.”

The burly man opened his mouth to speak but was cut short when the man behind him lifted up his arm and brought the butt of his gun down on the big man’s head…hard. Knuckles collapsed on the floor in a heap and Five finally saw who was behind him. “Harp.”  
“In the flesh.” Harp crouched down and started checking the man’s pockets. He pulled out another gun and tossed it to Five. “You look like shit.”  
“Thanks.”   
“I know you don’t like to talk about yourself but after we get the hell out of here, you mind telling me what the hell is going on?”  
“You got it.”

Harp led the way out of the cell and into a larger room that housed more cell doors. Most of which were open, indicating they were empty. “I guess I didn’t have a lot of neighbors.”  
“Guess not.”  
“Hey, before we go.” Five turned to Harp. “Why now? Why wait 6 years to save my sorry ass?”  
“I didn’t know you were here. Management told us that you went home. It wasn’t until I heard some guys whispering about how they got to go a couple of rounds with the famous Number Five that I knew that you never left.” He continued when Five stayed silent. “I went to management and told them I wanted in. I said I wanted to pay you back for all the times you threatened my life and treated me like a secretary rather than a partner and well, here I am.”  
“Damn Harp, I did treat you like shit.”  
“Yeah but you just wanted to go home. You were keeping your head down and I was unknowingly trying to sabotage that.” He then went back into his old annoyingly cheerful self. “We’re good bro!”  
“I want you to know that I can’t have them following me. This all has to go.”   
Harp nodded before making a ‘follow me’ motion. “What the hell, the pension plan sucks anyway.”

Harp and Five quickly made their way down the corridor and to a set of elevators. Once inside, Five spoke. “We need to get to the tech room. I’m going to need more than this.” He held up the 9mm in his hand and Harp nodded. “Then, I’m headed to the Boss’ office and I’m going to put a bullet in his fucking brain. After that…we burn this place to the ground and hope the next ‘cog’ thinks twice about messing with me or my family.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to a thankfully empty hallway. The two men stepped out and made their way toward the tech room. It was the middle of the day so all the agents that were to be deployed already left and the tech area consisted of the receptionist, Q and a couple of his lab techs. Five looked across the hall at Harp and nodded. They sprung into action. 

Harp rounded the corner and put a bullet into the receptionist as Five grabbed the door to the tech room and pulled it open. Upon entering, he took down one of the techs and Q and behind him he heard another silenced shot and a thud. He walked over to the weapons wall and took what he needed and waited for Harp to do the same. Five picked up one of the briefcases and handed it to Harp. “I need you to take this and get to my apartment. I’m going to destroy everything, and I need to make sure a briefcase is safe to get me back. After that, it’s yours. Take it and go when ever or wherever you want.”

“I don’t really have anywhere to go.”  
“What?”  
“Why do you think I stayed well past my contract was up? I don’t have anything to go home to.”  
Five took in Harp for the first time since he busted him out. He looked old. Not the kind of old that comes with actual age, but the kind of old that comes with simply being worn out. “Ah for Christ sake.” He looked up at the ceiling, not able to look his former partner in the eye as he spoke. “Then you come with me.”  
“Really?”  
“Yes, but for the foreseeable future, if I tell you to shut up, you need to shut up!”  
“Deal!”

Harp took the briefcase and bolted out of the room. Five looked around and saw a bin full of grenades and said to himself, “well, if it aint broke…” He grabbed a bag and filled it before taking off down the hall to the Boss’ office.

When he reached the office door, he heard voices coming from inside. Leaning his head against the door, he recognized the Boss, but the other person was not familiar. He nearly barged in then and there but heard something to make him pause. It was the other man. “How much longer are you going to keep torturing him?”  
“Until he has a mental breakdown or dies.”  
“Six years. I think that if he was going to break, he would have done it by now.” The lack of a witty comeback told Five that the Boss was afraid of this man. “You are wasting resources on a man that has nothing more to offer the company. Finish him off.”  
“What about his family? They are a strange breed. They may not rest until they find out what happened to him.”  
“Then kill them. Jesus man, do you not run a division of time traveling assassins? Get it done.”

Five heard enough. He decided that just because he was about to kill them, there was no need to be rude, so he knocked. The door swung open and before the Boss’ boss could react, Five put a bullet in him. He fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes, leaving Five looking directly at the Boss. “You made a mistake,” Five told him.  
“I’m made lots of mistakes throughout my life, you’ll have to be more specific.”  
“You gave me the mannequin.”  
“What?”  
“I am not the sanest individual as you probably noticed. Had you sent me off for kill after kill, I may have started to like it. Hell, I think I did. After years and years, you may even have convinced me that this was a better life for me, and I could have stayed. I could have been your best little soldier. But you had to be coy and put that damn mannequin in my room.”  
“So?”  
“So? You basically put my wife right there for me to look at every damn day. Every morning I was reminded of what the hell I was doing this all for. Why the hell I wanted to burn this place to the ground. So, I guess I should thank you.” 

Five thanked him with a bullet.

He quickly made his way down the hall, throwing grenade after grenade as he ran. Making sure to chuck at least three into the tech room. As he exited the building, the explosions behind him rang in his ears like sweet music. He rushed across the courtyard and entered the apartment complex. 

It was much too quiet for his taste. He knew most of the other agents were on mission but there was always one or two who had a few days off who were milling about. Today, nothing. He slowly crept down the hall to the room marked ‘5’ and the door was open a crack. He used his foot to push it the rest of the way and peered inside. It looked like they never moved anyone in after he ‘left.’ There stood brass knuckles holding the briefcase and Five cursed himself for leaving him back in the cell merely unconscious. He did a quick scan of the room and Harp was nowhere to be seen. He looked up at the big man and tilted his head to either side and cracked his neck before saying, “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Knuckles moved surprisingly quick for a big guy and Five was nearly caught off guard by the sight of the hulking behemoth charging him. He side-stepped and as he did so, felt a small jolt of electricity. Smiling, he thought back to his last meal. It had to have been yesterday because Knuckles and Harp were bringing him breakfast. A breakfast that he didn’t eat. The drugs were wearing off and soon he would be back to his old self. If this guy didn’t kill him first.

Fighting is all about advantage, Five knew this. Knuckles had size, but Five had home turf advantage. They were in his apartment, and he knew where he hid potential weapons in case of a scenario just like this. He ran over to hoist the Murphy bed up into the wall and grabbed the kitchen knife that was secured underneath before turning around just in time to receive a well-placed hit to his rib cage. He was glad the brass knuckles were on the other hand, or something would have definitely broke.

Swinging blindly as he doubled over, he felt the knife hit something. He took a chance and tried to jump. Nothing. “Shit.” He lunged away from the big man blindly swinging his arms and took stock of the situation. He hit something alright. Knuckles stood in front of him, a gash running across his forehead, blood dripping into his eyes. “You son of a bitch! You’re gonna pay for that.” Knuckles swung the briefcase widely and let it go. It crashed into the wall and Five nearly cried out at the sound of something inside of it shattering. Knuckles then wiped the blood away before pulling out a 9 mm from the back of his pants. “Bringing a knife to a gun fight. Is that what your Daddy taught you at the Umbrella Academy?”  
“Nope.” Five stood up straight, holding his rib cage. “He taught us to never go into a fight without a plan. Or backup.”  
The shot rang out and Knuckles’ eyes went wide as blood slowly started spilling out of his mouth and he crumpled to the ground. Five looked from his lifeless body up to Harp and smiled. “Thanks.”  
“No problem. Now let’s get the hell out of here!”

Five grabbed the briefcase and placed some more grenades before the two men ran from the apartment complex and turned in time to watch it crumble to the ground. Once the dust had settled, Five knelt down and opened the case to inspect the damage. “It’s not that bad!” He figured the crash he heard was the display cracking. The case seemed to be in working order, but he could only input a year, not a specific date. It was not ideal but it was what they had to work with. “You ready?”  
“You go ahead.” Five turned to see Harp lying on the ground near him, the mid-section of his suit soaked with blood.   
“Harp!”  
“Yeah, I was going to tell you that he shot me, but you were having too much fun in the fight, I didn’t want to bother you. And you know, you always wanted me to shut up.” He tried to laugh but it just came out as a rattling cough.   
Five knelt beside him and grabbed one of his hands. “We can still go. I’ll bring you back, we can fix you up.”  
“Nah. I didn’t adapt like you. I don’t think I can live with myself after all the shit I’ve done. Besides, what better way to go out then to essentially take a bullet for the famous Number Five?” He coughed a few more times. “I’m gonna be a freaking legend, man.”  
“You are Harp.” Five whispered as the man’s eyes fluttered shut. “You are a freaking legend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I re-wrote the ending a bunch of different ways to try and keep Harp alive. I really like the character but in the end I had to go with which one read better. Sorry Harp, we barely knew you. You freaking legend!


	6. What Comes Next?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just what it says on the tin...what comes next?

You could hear a pin drop in the room as all attention was focused on Five. “Holy shit.” Diego finally uttered, almost to himself.  
“Yeah.” Was Five’s response.  
They all sat for a few more moments before Delores finally stood up with Rose. “Alright. We are all going to need some time to unpack all of that. In the meantime, it is way past these little ladies’ bedtimes.” Five gave her a grateful look at breaking the tension as the others slowly started to move. Some went off to bed, Allison and Diego went straight to the bar. 

Delores held her free hand out for Five and he took it. They walked to the back of the house and into the room adjacent their own. He watched in awe as she bustled around the room and get the twins ready for bed. He mentally took notes on how she changed diapers and put them in their pajamas. She then switched on the mobiles and a small music box before ushering him out of the room and switching the light off as they left.

Delores didn’t seem to switch off ‘Mom mode’ once they got into their room. He sat in stunned silence as she took off his clothes and led him into the bathroom. There she turned on the shower and instructed him to hop in and clean himself up. They would take care of the beard and hair in the morning. When he got out of the shower, there was a fresh pair of pajamas sitting on the counter for him.

He stepped out of the bathroom and saw that the room was only lit up by the little light on the end table. Delores was already in bed, propped up on a couple of pillows behind her back, the sheets pulled up to her midsection. She had pulled back the covers on his side and he quickly slid in next to her. For a moment, neither spoke. They just sat in each other’s presence, which for now, was perfectly fine with Five.

“I missed you.” She spoke in almost a whisper, as if she didn’t want anyone to hear.  
“I missed you too.”  
“Are they going to come after you? After us?”  
“No. Even if there is a commission left, by now they know that each time they try to mess with us…it doesn’t end well for them. The benefit doesn’t outweigh the risk.”  
“Good.”

Five scooted himself down into a laying position and Delores followed suit. She laid her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her for the first time in over a decade. He sighed and allowed himself to sink deeper into the soft mattress as she snuggled closer to him.   
“There is a silver lining to all of this you know.”  
Five wrinkled his brow trying to think of anything good about any of this. “What’s that?”  
“People won’t mistake you for my son anymore.”  
Five smiled and kissed the top of her head. “Well, I’m glad I escaped when I did then. I’d hate for them to think I was your father.” 

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it...comments are always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Comments are always appreciated!


End file.
